diff --git a/app/plugins/views.plugin.js b/app/plugins/views.plugin.js
index c1e3aec8f8..80beecf881 100644
--- a/app/plugins/views.plugin.js
+++ b/app/plugins/views.plugin.js
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ function context (request) {
   return {
     // `assetPath` is referred to in layout.njk as the path to get static assets like client-side javascript
     assetPath: '/assets',
+    // this is the url of where the request came from. We use it to generate back links in our pages
+    referrer: request.info.referrer,
     auth: {
       authenticated: request.auth.isAuthenticated,
       authorized: request.auth.isAuthorized,
diff --git a/app/views/includes/back-link.njk b/app/views/includes/back-link.njk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a6192c3165
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/includes/back-link.njk
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{% if referrer %}
+  {% set backlink = referrer %}
+{% else %}
+  {% set backlink = 'javascript:history.back()' %}
+{% endif %}
+{{
+  govukBackLink({
+    text: "Back",
+    href: backlink
+  })
+}}